Flinch, Netflix

Last year, we were commissioned to make a physical gameshow for Netflix, set on an abandoned farm in Northern Ireland, featuring members of the public playing games so hilariously insane and eye-wateringly painful we had to remove all the swearing in the edit. There are worse ways to spend your summer.

There’s only one rule in Flinch: do not flinch. If you do, terrible things will happen to you. By ‘terrible’, I mean you might get electrocuted, have your fingers snapped by mousetraps, or be slapped repeatedly in the face by two ginger farmhands. That sort of thing.

Shooting on an abandoned farm in Ireland has many perks – but electricity, running water and toilets are not among them. The site was amazing, though. It had just the right air of menace and danger; mostly because it was menacing and dangerous.

Before we could start filming, we had to build a production village, connect it to the electricity and water supply and make sure all the asbestos was safely cordoned off.

There were plenty of further challenges during production. It was summer in Northern Ireland, so we expected cold weather, but we hadn’t banked on snow – and heating a giant abandoned barn with a patchy roof wasn’t easy, or cheap.

We also hit a snag with our transport. On one particularly long day, we had to release our bus drivers because they’d worked their maximum hours.

Unfortunately, we still had 10 contestants and an audience of about 100 people to get home. Do you know how many six-seater taxis there are in Ireland? Not enough. When I get out of TV, I’m buying a people carrier.

But these were only small things. Our real concern was the safety of our contributors and crew – and thankfully, that never became an issue. Every game, every prop, every piece of set was carefully built and tested to ensure it was safe.

We only had two injuries across the whole shoot: a runner banged his head on a cherry picker – but that was mostly his fault – and our medic had an allergic reaction to the weasels. Fairly standard stuff.

Making a physical gameshow for Netflix is a brilliant experience. For a start, there’s no looming TX date. In effect, you’re free to make the best possible show you can without the usual restraints of network television.

That sounds good – and it is – but it’s also unnerving. Everything you think you know, you have to rethink. Our commissioner, Nat Grouille, kept us on track throughout the process but it was very challenging. 

When there’s no hard and fast duration to stick to, how do you know if your show is too long or too short? We decided that if we stopped laughing, it was too long.

So our crew of 80 found themselves in the purpose-built production village, in the middle of nowhere, during a snowy Irish summer, with 80 contributors, an audience of hundreds and three good-natured, eternally patient hosts.

Our games (see box, below) involved animals, water, children, washing machines, cattle prods and giant tractor tyres. The best part of the whole shoot was listening to the gallery and crew laughing as the games played out.

That’s how we knew we had something. It was too cold to make a phone call outdoors yet people were still laughing.